Traditionally, soft drink advertising devices have taken a great number of different forms. Perhaps the most common is simply the paper cup bearing the trademark of the particular soft drink involved. For example, who has not seen the bright red and white waxed paper cups bearing the trademark of the Coca Cola Company. Typically, such advertisement bearing cups are used in restaurants, fast food chains, so called "chuck wagons", food stands, and the like. While such devices are in very wide use, nevertheless, they suffer from the basic inadequacy of being disposable items. Thus, once used, they are lost as advertising devices.
Accordingly, paper cups bearing advertising material require a continuing program of introducing the cups into the marketplace. Naturally, as soon as such a program is discontinued, the cups rapidly disappear from sight. In addition, despite the added cost of printing trademarks and other advertising matter on the cups, each time this is done such added value is lost upon the disposal of the cup.
In an attempt to achieve a somewhat longer lasting advertising device, soft drink bottlers have resorted to glasses bearing their trademark. Typically such glasses are sold through retail outlets where their physical attractiveness is calculated to interest the consumer who is in the market to purchase glasses.
Naturally, sales of such glasses are usually limited to purchasers actually already looking for glasses. While the attractive design may attract the occasional impulse buyer, nevertheless, sales are limited to prospective purchasers of glasses. Despite this limitation, once sold such advertising devices have repeated and long value. Nevertheless, such devices are limited because of the limited manner in which the same may be distributed.
Both of the above advertising devices suffer from the inadequacy of not creating a vivid mental picture of the product being advertised. Alternatively, while the free distribution of soft drinks is done on a limited basis, for example in the case of new product introductions, this sort of activity does result in giving the consumer a very vivid picture of the product which one is promoting, such distribution has the side effect of reducing the perceived value of the product (because it is being given away) while at the same time resulting in a one-time advertising display insofar as the cans of the product are generally disposed of after one use.
In accordance with the present invention, the applicant has provided a mechanism for providing repeated advertising value for the inventive advertising device while at the same time simulating the product to be bought, thus short circuiting the mental connection necessary between the advertising device and the product being sold, while at the same time providing the same in a form which is susceptible to mass market distribution on a very wide scale, far greater than only appealing to consumers looking to purchase glasses. In addition no cheapening of the product is introduced.